club reports 2022
December Christmas Dance
As one door closes at the end of 2022 another door opens in 2023, we held our last dance at Saltford Hall on Friday evening on the 9th of December 2022 and now look forward to dancing in our new venue in Bath in January. We were well supported for the Christmas dance with spot prizes, mince pies and Paul’s lovely selection of Christmas music there was a party atmosphere for our Old Time programme, to see out 2022. We would like to thank all those who have supported us at our evening dances in Saltford Hall over the years and look forward to seeing as many of you who can make it to our new venue in Bath at Claverton Down Community Hall, for our afternoon Old Time dances. We will continue to meet on the 2nd Friday afternoon of every month. From the feedback we have received so far the majority of our dancers are in favour of the change to afternoons, as they have said it is no fun driving around at night, especially in the winter. Although in one way it was sad to leave Saltford Hall we are now looking forward to the change of venue for 2023.
Click here for location
As one door closes at the end of 2022 another door opens in 2023, we held our last dance at Saltford Hall on Friday evening on the 9th of December 2022 and now look forward to dancing in our new venue in Bath in January. We were well supported for the Christmas dance with spot prizes, mince pies and Paul’s lovely selection of Christmas music there was a party atmosphere for our Old Time programme, to see out 2022. We would like to thank all those who have supported us at our evening dances in Saltford Hall over the years and look forward to seeing as many of you who can make it to our new venue in Bath at Claverton Down Community Hall, for our afternoon Old Time dances. We will continue to meet on the 2nd Friday afternoon of every month. From the feedback we have received so far the majority of our dancers are in favour of the change to afternoons, as they have said it is no fun driving around at night, especially in the winter. Although in one way it was sad to leave Saltford Hall we are now looking forward to the change of venue for 2023.
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November Dancing Holiday
We held our 8th dancing holiday at Dawlish Warren in the wonderful Langstone Cliff Hotel with just over 90 dancers. There was a great atmosphere from the Monday evening, with everyone meeting up for reception drinks followed by a delicious evening meal, you can always rely on excellent food at the Langstone. We started the first evenings dancing with the Variety Swing the set dance was The Lancers and some of the other dances that first evening included Lola Tango, Desmond Blues, Regency Saunter, Venetian Foxtrot, Promenade Gavotte, Liberty Two Step and Mulberry Glide. The Game for the Monday evening was a card game very loosely based on the TV program “Play Your Cards Right” we had several prizes lined up for the winners and for the first game it was a bottle of Baileys, However, it was not won so was rolled over to the next game and rolled over another 5 times, we could not believe there was not a winner for the 7 games! The three day event continued with the same format lots of dancing, 59 dances over the three day programmes plus the extra dances on the request morning on Tuesday and some games and lots of fun. We practiced the Coronation Parade on the Tuesday morning and then danced it on the last evening. It is an easy progressive dance invented for the late Queen’s Coronation which will be very handy next year. Everyone enjoyed the dance and many of the dance leaders who attend our holiday showed an interest in the script and said they would dance it next year. We had the wonderful music of David Last for the holiday and he was on top form. We are very grateful for the many thankyou cards, flowers and gifts we have received from the dancers but seeing everyone having a good time, enjoying the dancing with smiles on their faces is thanks enough. Already planning next year’s holiday and we are looking forward to seeing everyone at Dawlish again next year.
Click here for pictures
We held our 8th dancing holiday at Dawlish Warren in the wonderful Langstone Cliff Hotel with just over 90 dancers. There was a great atmosphere from the Monday evening, with everyone meeting up for reception drinks followed by a delicious evening meal, you can always rely on excellent food at the Langstone. We started the first evenings dancing with the Variety Swing the set dance was The Lancers and some of the other dances that first evening included Lola Tango, Desmond Blues, Regency Saunter, Venetian Foxtrot, Promenade Gavotte, Liberty Two Step and Mulberry Glide. The Game for the Monday evening was a card game very loosely based on the TV program “Play Your Cards Right” we had several prizes lined up for the winners and for the first game it was a bottle of Baileys, However, it was not won so was rolled over to the next game and rolled over another 5 times, we could not believe there was not a winner for the 7 games! The three day event continued with the same format lots of dancing, 59 dances over the three day programmes plus the extra dances on the request morning on Tuesday and some games and lots of fun. We practiced the Coronation Parade on the Tuesday morning and then danced it on the last evening. It is an easy progressive dance invented for the late Queen’s Coronation which will be very handy next year. Everyone enjoyed the dance and many of the dance leaders who attend our holiday showed an interest in the script and said they would dance it next year. We had the wonderful music of David Last for the holiday and he was on top form. We are very grateful for the many thankyou cards, flowers and gifts we have received from the dancers but seeing everyone having a good time, enjoying the dancing with smiles on their faces is thanks enough. Already planning next year’s holiday and we are looking forward to seeing everyone at Dawlish again next year.
Click here for pictures
October Harrogate
Just returned from The Old Time Dance Society’s Autumn weekend which we enjoyed very much. A large group of Bath Old Time Dancers travelled up to Harrogate for the event held in the Cairn Hotel. The hotel has an excellent ballroom and the accommodation, parking and location are all good. The organisation in the dining room was not as good as we remembered and as we were leading on the Friday night the delay in serving our group making us half hour late starting did not help the nerves. Having got the first dance underway the nerves disappeared and we enjoyed the evening. It was great to have Harry, Joy Lewis’s Grandson with us, he stood in at the last minute as Joy’s partner Wendy was unable to attend. We all know what a great group the Old Time Dance Society members are but it was lovely to hear Harry say “what lovely people”. The Saturday night was made very special as we had Steven Shaw and Helen Blackburn leading, they put together an excellent programme of Old Time dances that the members all enjoyed dancing. What a joy it was to watch them lead off the dances, they chatted to members and joined in with some fun. As well as thanking them for leading, Paul as Chairman, was able to thank Helen for all the work she does for the OTDS web page, it is appreciated. Grahame and Bernice led the Sunday programme and as I was not calling the set dance Paul and I got the chance to dance the Caledonians. Well what fun that was there people chaining when they should have been promenading, going left when they should have been going right and as for the corner chain there are no words. I was grateful for the Gin and Tonic Joyce Hutchins bought me to help me revive. Now looking forward to our Dawlish Warren Holiday, lots of dancing, fun, games and the wonderful music of David Last.
Click here for pictures
Just returned from The Old Time Dance Society’s Autumn weekend which we enjoyed very much. A large group of Bath Old Time Dancers travelled up to Harrogate for the event held in the Cairn Hotel. The hotel has an excellent ballroom and the accommodation, parking and location are all good. The organisation in the dining room was not as good as we remembered and as we were leading on the Friday night the delay in serving our group making us half hour late starting did not help the nerves. Having got the first dance underway the nerves disappeared and we enjoyed the evening. It was great to have Harry, Joy Lewis’s Grandson with us, he stood in at the last minute as Joy’s partner Wendy was unable to attend. We all know what a great group the Old Time Dance Society members are but it was lovely to hear Harry say “what lovely people”. The Saturday night was made very special as we had Steven Shaw and Helen Blackburn leading, they put together an excellent programme of Old Time dances that the members all enjoyed dancing. What a joy it was to watch them lead off the dances, they chatted to members and joined in with some fun. As well as thanking them for leading, Paul as Chairman, was able to thank Helen for all the work she does for the OTDS web page, it is appreciated. Grahame and Bernice led the Sunday programme and as I was not calling the set dance Paul and I got the chance to dance the Caledonians. Well what fun that was there people chaining when they should have been promenading, going left when they should have been going right and as for the corner chain there are no words. I was grateful for the Gin and Tonic Joyce Hutchins bought me to help me revive. Now looking forward to our Dawlish Warren Holiday, lots of dancing, fun, games and the wonderful music of David Last.
Click here for pictures
September Bath Ball
As we were making the final preparations on Thursday for our Ball on Saturday the 10th September we were saddened to hear that Queen Elizabeth II had passed away. We decided to continue with the Ball with a few changes to the running order. As some of the dancers said getting together is a good way to celebrate the life of the Queen. We had a full house with almost 60 dancers and opened the Ball with a minute’s silence. It was a great night with the superb music of David Last and it was a treat to dance on the refurbished floor. During the evening we presented Pam and John with a gift to celebrate their Diamond Wedding that they had celebrated a few days before. There was a buffet supper and we are grateful to friends and family who helped prepare and serve it. A raffle, to help raise funds for our charity for this year was held and we are grateful to all those who provided additional prizes and Dianne who helped us with the raffle. At the end of the evening we added an extra dance, Waltz for the Queen and finished with the King.
As we were making the final preparations on Thursday for our Ball on Saturday the 10th September we were saddened to hear that Queen Elizabeth II had passed away. We decided to continue with the Ball with a few changes to the running order. As some of the dancers said getting together is a good way to celebrate the life of the Queen. We had a full house with almost 60 dancers and opened the Ball with a minute’s silence. It was a great night with the superb music of David Last and it was a treat to dance on the refurbished floor. During the evening we presented Pam and John with a gift to celebrate their Diamond Wedding that they had celebrated a few days before. There was a buffet supper and we are grateful to friends and family who helped prepare and serve it. A raffle, to help raise funds for our charity for this year was held and we are grateful to all those who provided additional prizes and Dianne who helped us with the raffle. At the end of the evening we added an extra dance, Waltz for the Queen and finished with the King.
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July & August
We had a bit of a panic after our June dance when the hall admin team emailed us to say we could not have our normal dance nights in July and August. The Hall always hold a community week of events in the first week of July but this year it was moved because of the Jubilee bank holiday and there were no other Fridays free in July. In August the hall was going to be shut the 2nd week of the month to refurbish the floor. Although we could not have a July dance we knew we had the Southern Ball in July and for August we were able to book the 1st Friday August 5th. We contacted all the dancers and crossed our fingers it would be ok. Unfortunately we never got the support that we had been pledged for the Southern Ball, we would like to thank all those who supported the event some travelling long distances and booking accommodation. The Southern Ball weekend was enjoyed by those who attended and we received lots of feedback that the Corn Exchange in Devizes was one of the best ballrooms people had ever danced in. Due to the falling numbers, however, we have reluctantly decided that we can no longer hold the event. Moving on to the August dance we had a very good turnout, one of the best we have had since coming back from the Pandemic. There was a good atmosphere and the floor seemed to be full for all the dances, delicious cakes from Clare, who was back dancing with us and celebrating her birthday.
We had a bit of a panic after our June dance when the hall admin team emailed us to say we could not have our normal dance nights in July and August. The Hall always hold a community week of events in the first week of July but this year it was moved because of the Jubilee bank holiday and there were no other Fridays free in July. In August the hall was going to be shut the 2nd week of the month to refurbish the floor. Although we could not have a July dance we knew we had the Southern Ball in July and for August we were able to book the 1st Friday August 5th. We contacted all the dancers and crossed our fingers it would be ok. Unfortunately we never got the support that we had been pledged for the Southern Ball, we would like to thank all those who supported the event some travelling long distances and booking accommodation. The Southern Ball weekend was enjoyed by those who attended and we received lots of feedback that the Corn Exchange in Devizes was one of the best ballrooms people had ever danced in. Due to the falling numbers, however, we have reluctantly decided that we can no longer hold the event. Moving on to the August dance we had a very good turnout, one of the best we have had since coming back from the Pandemic. There was a good atmosphere and the floor seemed to be full for all the dances, delicious cakes from Clare, who was back dancing with us and celebrating her birthday.
February
Now that things are settling down and dancers are more confident our numbers at Bath Old Time Dancers continue to improve. We were delighted to welcome over 40 dancers for our monthly dance in February. The programme included Waltz for the Queen, in celebration of Her Majesty’s
Platinum Jubilee. As a good number of the dancers were going to Caernarfon for the Society Spring weekend and the Sovereign Saunter was on the programme, we also included it on our February programme. It had not been danced in the Bath area for many years and was completely new to us. The dancers all agreed it is a lovely saunter and we were pleased that everyone got up to try it.
Now that things are settling down and dancers are more confident our numbers at Bath Old Time Dancers continue to improve. We were delighted to welcome over 40 dancers for our monthly dance in February. The programme included Waltz for the Queen, in celebration of Her Majesty’s
Platinum Jubilee. As a good number of the dancers were going to Caernarfon for the Society Spring weekend and the Sovereign Saunter was on the programme, we also included it on our February programme. It had not been danced in the Bath area for many years and was completely new to us. The dancers all agreed it is a lovely saunter and we were pleased that everyone got up to try it.
